Portal:Oregon/Selected article/71

Mount Mazama is a destroyed stratovolcano in the Oregon part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the Cascade Range. The volcano's collapsed caldera holds Crater Lake, and the entire mountain is located within Crater Lake National Park. Mazama is most famous for a catastrophic volcanic eruption that occurred around 5,677 (± 150) BC. The eruption, estimated to have been 42 times more powerful than Mount St. Helens' 1980 blast, reduced Mazama's approximate 11,000-foot (3,400 m) height by around half a mile (800 m) when much of the volcano fell into the volcano's partially emptied neck and magma chamber. At 8,159 feet (2,487 m), Hillman Peak is now the highest point on the rim. The Klamath tribe of the area believed that the mountain was inhabited by their god of the underworld. After the mountain destroyed itself the Klamaths recounted the events as a great battle between this god and his rival the sky god. Mount Mazama was given its name in 1896 when a climbing club from Portland, The Mazamas, organized a visit to Crater Lake, and named the lost peak Mount Mazama after their own club.